June 2016

Here we are, you and I, the road ahead long and winding, My sun was up, hours ago, yours – just about rising… To see this dawn, I have plodded hours and walked miles… The journey ahead excites you, you are all smiles! Your basket brims with gay frolic and fun stories Mine is packed with caution, care, and a few worries… Your sun was mine too, a long, long time ago, With his sunset hues, he’s now ready to…

get your chiffon saree, said my friend durga whom you may know if you’re a regular at writersbrew, and jhumkas… and dance with the hero as per tradition. i guffawed staring at the message; we were waiting at the airport, about to take the flight to zurich. switzerland has always been a favourite for hindi film song sequences. one moment you are in a delhi garden or on bombay marine drive or a plush garish set in a studio and the next you’re runnnnning…

She took in a deep breath. Her bony shoulders moved upwards and remained raised, a second longer, till she exhaled. She looked around with an aimless distaste. Whoever said coffee cafes have a rich bitter aroma of ground coffee beans had lied. Her lips pursed a tiny bit closer as the thought flitted through her head. Early in the morning, there would have been a sheen of mocha on those lips. But, defying all the promises made by the cosmetic company, her…

Not again.. A sassy rookie FBI agent who knows better than everyone? Not what I picked up to read.. That’s what I thought through the first chapter. It reminded me of Quantico (The Priyanka Chopra starring TV series on ABC). The Killing Hour review would not have made it to Writersbrew. However, a few chapters later things got decidedly better (or rather worse.. which is a great thing for a serial killer novel). At one point a live viper jumped…

i don’t observe father’s day. my father passed away many years ago and back then, no one celebrated father’s day in india. and yet, every time the day comes around, i think of this ad by david abbott. so perfectly written, you think you wrote it yourself for your father. even though you didn’t celebrate the day and your father wasn’t around and you weren’t a young man of thirty eight; you were a woman. come to think of it,…

I had heard these words as the title of a song on a radio channel, on Father’s day, 2 years ago. The words have stayed with me. Apparently, Sunday is Father’s Day. I tried to remember, but I don’t think I have ever wished my father on this day. I usually end up wishing him a day late on his birthday too. He isn’t the kind to mind it or even expect it. Perhaps, that is why even I don’t…

The other day on a local radio station a boy and girl were arguing if dragons were real or not. Actually.. let me rephrase.. the girl was insisting that the boy be open to the possibility of the existence of dragons. The world of Game of Thrones is real, she reasoned. The future of their relationship depended on the outcome of the argument. So, in case you are ever faced a similar situation let me arm you with all the necessary knowledge…

Treading the path of history, while one discovers forts, monuments, palaces lyring marooned in towns and far away places, it is overwhelming when one finds whole cities that were once illustrious, filled with memorable monuments, now slowly withering away. The Epic Channel show, ‘Ekaant’, hosted by Akul Tripathi, in its first season talked of such cities like Vijayanagara, Lakhpat, etc. In Season 2, we learn about some more. Bijapur Situated about 400 kms. from Hyderabad, this medieval city in…

they are really a time in my life. from when i was twelve and beginning to read them with a flutter in my heart and trying not to be caught with a book that’s meant for my mother. to when i was seventeen going on eighteen and suddenly one fine day i stopped reading them altogether. think after that day, i’ve flipped through only one or two of these books i couldn’t live without for five years of my life.…

say utterly… no say “ut-terly” and the mind will automatically murmur “but-terly delicious.” it’s as if there is no other place the word utterly could take you to. butterly was its destination, butterly was its mate, where one went the other had to follow. the first ad with the amul girl i don’t remember how old i was, must have been around ten, when these words got embedded in my memory. possibly the first copy, as in advertising writing, that…